Shadow Shift
by Aeternum Lux
Summary: A freak accident leaves an unknown creature in the heart of Jump City. But instead of the Titans finding her,she finds the Titans. PG-13 just to be safe. OC
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, nor anything associtated with them, besides this fic. I do, however own the character Kaelia and everything associated with her.  


  
A Fox Down the Rabbit Hole  


"Now, you're sure that this is a good idea?" I asked the professor, standing in front of a transporter portal that he claimed was "perfectly safe." Right. That's why the baseball he sent in came out as a fine power at the exit portal across the classroom.

"Of course, my little TSCR/UC hybrid," he said good-naturedly. "I've fixed all the bugs in the previous version. The rematerialization error was the first thing I fixed." The professor was a full-blood TSCL, despite that, he never believed half-bloods and hybrids like me were lower than the rest. Just one of the many things I admired about him. Another thing is that he's the first professor in history to be a TS. Until now, all the professors were Silicon Gods, or humans as they like to be called. The fact that he was just slightly attractive didn't hurt things either. I can now admit that I had a tiny(read: huge)crush on him the first time I saw him.

"So, now the computer can put back together what it takes apart?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered. "Go ahead and test it Kaelia, if you don't believe me."

"If you don't mind, I think I will." He snorted in indignation, but I felt that his ego would survive the blow. Drawing a card from my right deck, I tossed it into the shimmering black of the gate. It appeared instantly out of the other portal, and a TSFD caught it. "Coool," I said. "What about objects that stay in the active portal? Will they be solid here but disassembled in the acutal connection itself?"

Professor Johnson frowned. "I don't know. It should, but I haven't tested it."

"Can I?" I asked eagerly, like a kit with a new toy. Which is what this was, essentially.

He chuckled. "Sure. Just, don't do anything stupid."

I drew myself up in mock righteous indignation. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked haughtily. He started to answer before I interrupted him with a raised hand and my favorite threat.

Still laughing, the wolf shook his head and gave me the go-ahead.

Invoking my beloved halberd Aelos, I tip-toed forward, earning slight chuckles from the class. Which is funny, I guess, considering I walk digitigrade. My halberd slid past the event horizon of the portal and appeared on the other side. It appeared fine, even after I waved it around, and moved it front to back.

"Well, seems safe enough," I said after a while, letting Aelos dissolve back into the ether.

"I told you that."

"Well, I had to make sure. I wouldn't want to be reduced to a molecular powder."

"Are you ready to walk through?" asked the prof.

"As ready as I'll ever be. What could it hurt?" I said, walking through the portal. Ahh. Famous last words.

---------------------

"Now, you're sure this is a good idea?" asked Cyborg, as they walked into Raven's room.

"Relax, Cy. Rae's birthday is coming up, and this is the perfect way to see what she has and what she likes," answered Beastboy. "Here, take this for example," he pulled a musty tome off the bookshelf. "The Necronomicron." The shifter thumbed through it. "Eww..." he said after a while, replacing it on the shelf. "Hmmm... What about this one?" Beastboy said, pulling out "The Dunwich Horror." "Ahh!" he screamed after five pages, dropping the book and rapidly shoving it back on the shelf.

"Well, we've established that she likes dark, creepy, and frighting things. Why don't we just give her fifty bucks and let her get something for herself?" asked Cyborg, who had just finished examining a rather macabe statuette of a dragon.

"Cop-out. I just got through to Rae, and I don't want to just say, 'here's some money; go buy yourself something pretty.'"

"If by 'getting through to her' you mean 'making out like the teens you are', then yeah, you have," Cyborg said somewhat good-naturedly.

"You're just jealous because I'm with Raven and Robin and Star are together," he retorted, his emerald eyes never leaving the bookcase.

"You see this? Right here?" The metal teen tapped the place where his heart had been previously. "A part of it just died."

"Oooh! This! Right here!" Garfield exclaimed, excitedly pulling a book of the shelf and paying no mind to Vic's retort.

"What is it?" asked Cy, coming over and looking at the book he was holding. "So?"

"Therio Mysterium. The mysteries of the animals. I've only heard about this in legends. I never thought it really existed."

"What's it about?" Cyborg asked, somewhat interested.

"A legendary animal mage was nearing the end of his life, so he decided to write down a compendium of all the knowledge he had ever gained in his lifetime. It was said that he could summon an animal from anywhere in the world simply reciting a chant," Beastboy said, eagerly and carefully flipping through the pages.

"Wow. What was his name?"

The green-skinned youth looked up, and tried to recall. "I think it was something like 'the god of animals,' but I can't remember the exact name... Oh well," he said, falling back into Raven's book. "Hey, I found that chant I told you about."

"Cool."

Beastboy grinned mischeviously. "Wanna see if it works for us?"

"I dunno BB, messing with magic has never been a good idea. Remember what happened the first time we went in here?"

"That was months ago. Besides, that's totally different."

"Really? How so?"

"That was with a mirror. This is with a book."

"Wow, I guess that makes all the difference. Read on then," Cyborg said sarcastically.

Beastboy didn't respond, but started chanting in an unknown language, flowing and smooth. The hairs on the back of BB's neck began to rise as forces swirled around the two. His chanting rose to a fevered pitch, then both the chant and the eerie feeling stopped dead.

"Well, that wasn't creepy..." said Cyborg, after a while.

"Yeah... I think we should get out of here..." Garfield said, replacing the book on the shelf.

"Good idea," responded Vic, walking/dashing towards the door.

---------------

Instead of walking out of the portal into the other side of the class, I was dumped headfirst into a rather hard marble floor. Luckily, my head was harder, so I was more or less okay. I looked up just in time to see the portal disappear. "Oww..." Rubbing the spot that had hit the floor, I sat up and took stock of my location. The portal seemed to have dumped me out into a busy human bank. At least it had been. All the humans in there who had been previously going about their business were now staring at me. To say I felt self-conscious was a slight understatement; I found myself fervently wishing I had thought to get my armor BEFORE class, and extremely glad that I hadn't taken my roommate's suggestion and worn my halter and miniskirt.

"Ummm, hi," I said, picking myself up and waving. "I'll just be...on my way now," I said, walking towards the door. I got the impression that they couldn't understand what I was saying. True, I wasn't wearing my translator, but all humans should have had the linguistic chip implanted. Weird. A blast of cold air and snow greeted me as I walked out of the building. Shivering, I pulled my light jacket closer to me. What the hell? It had been sixty-five when I went into class. Well, whatever. Out on the street was no better. Odd looks and utter confusion resulted whenever I asked for directions to the nearest Info Center. Didn't anyone have an L chip or a spare translator handy? I finally caught sight of a likely looking building after an hour of wandering in the snow, earning strange looks. It looked like a giant Theriocenter, following the traditional "T" pattern. The fact that it was on a small island was a bit odd, but I wasn't about to argue if it meant I could crash for the night and get out of this miserable cold.

"Ugggh," I groaned. Half an hour of solid walking and I still hadn't closed much distance. Dash would be dangerous in a crowd of people, and besides, I just didn't have the energy. The light was fading quickly, and the snowfall had increased. I resolved to get there more quickly.

"Hello?" I said, knocking on the door of the T-center. I was nearly on the verge of passing out after having to walk across the bay. It had "luckily" frozen over, but my feet were now so cold that I could barely feel them. I wished for a pair of shoes.

The staff was used to random TS's showing up suddenly, so I figured that they wouldn't mind if I just walked in. The doors proved to be unlocked, and I lurched into the warm, blessed entrance hall. My eyes looked for the nearest place to collapse in. I made it up four levels before finding the common room, and the couch seemed to glow. Almost magnetically, I was drawn to the couch, falling down on it, curling up; then passing out.

-------------------------------------

Afterthoughts

Hey, look, I'm not dead! Sorry for the wait, plot bunnies like to take their sweet time with me... This is a tricky project for me, seeing as I'm a guy trying to write from a girl's point of view. I'm trying to do the best I can, but please let me know if I've misinterpreted a perspective. Anyway, you're likely wondering at some of the terms used here. I'll do my best to explain them. Bonus points if you make it to the end. :)

Theriosapiens (TS) : This is the Familiy that Kaelia hails from. It means(or is supposed to)"the wise beast." Think Jakkal's kaetif or general anthros. (subliminal message: GO READ BLACK TAPESTRIES)

TSFD: Theriosapiens Felius Domesticus. Basic house cat morph.

TSCL: Theriosapiens Canis Lupus: Grey wolf. Seen as the progenators of all Theriosapiens, as they were the first to develop sentientience. They later gave all the other members of TS intelligence. Interestingly, all members of TS have some supernatural ability to some degree or other. Anthros with superpowers... Scary.

TSCR/UC: Theriosapiens Canis Rufus and Urcyon Cineroargentus. Kaelia's species. Because all canid morphs are the same species, fertile interbreeding is possible. Mixes tend to be somewhat looked down upon, but Kaelia has had a good childhood away from bigotry.

Silicon Gods: Humans. In this fanfic, humans have developed a level of technology more or less indistinguishable from magic. They're not very involved with the race in any respect(and have long since stopped using silicon), but their existence is known to the planet. By the by, they're almost worshipped as literal gods in the more rural parts of Aldas.

Aldas: The name of the planet that Kaelia lives on. It has a technological equivalent to early twenty-first century Earth. Orbit is .998 AU with an axial tilt of 22.8, currently is in a tropical interglacial period, land covers 34 of planet's surface, and is geologically active. Biomes range from deciduous/conifer forests, pure conifer or deciduous forests, tundra, arctic, tropical rain forests, temperate rain forests, temperate cloud forests, savannahs, grasslands, to deserts. Overall population is 2.5 billion over five continents. Between 45-60 sentient species exist, living in (relative) harmony. Territorial disputes ocurr, but seldom result in physical injury. Permanent aboveground habitations are rare, most are nomadic within a territory, or live in underground dens. Dens are the norm, as they allow for a place to have running water, sewage lines, and such. Mineral resources are abundant, but are mined using shafts and burrowing species. The term 'strip mining' has never occured to them. Aldas was smacked around a few times by metal rich asteroids, and so it has more Os/Ir/Pl than most planets, but not by much.

Theriocenter: A wanderer's rest area/hotel. Because it's common for all races to journey, whether as part of a coming-of-age ritual, or simply as a nomadic lifestyle, theriocenters were created to allow them to rest. They have a distinctive architecture, looking like a "t."

L Chip: Linguistics chip implanted into all humans at birth. Allows for near-instant translation of any language, incoming and outgoing.

Dash: One of Kaelia's two powers. The summation and twitch movemets have been set to equal in her muscles. It allows her to move at incredible speed. Her bone structure has been modified to handle the extreme stresses exterted by Dash. Also, it works with any of her movements, not just running. Unfortunately, her muscles have a hard time in converting lactic acid.

Aelos: Kaelia's main weapon. A modded naginata, (the blade is flared) it's single piece, made from a osmium /platinum alloy interwoven with carbon nanotubules. The edge is a metallic glass, honed to a monomolecular edge. It stands at about six feet and weighs roughly 37 pounds. Appearance is shimmering black(think opaque black tiger's eye). It can handle incredible stresses and can be summoned or banished at her will. Named after the legendary spear of Aljaera.

One more thing. This story takes place after the events in "Aftershocks Part II." Beastboy and Raven are together, as are Robin and Starfire(surprise...)

Next Chapter: I'll explain how the wolves came to sentience and perhaps the entomology of Kaelia's name.


	2. I'm Sorry, Did You Need This Couch?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. See first chapter for full disclaimer.

I'm Sorry, Did You Need This Couch?

Sunlight poured through the windows, banishing me from sleep and forcing me upright. I yawned, stretching; breakfast sounded good. The thought died when I saw that I was surrounded by five teenaged humans. Three guys and two girls. Somewhat confused, but not yet openly hostile. I clamped down on my encroaching panic, stood up slowly, and said, "Hello, good morning to you," bowing to each one in turn. My training, which allowed me to stay in control, also gave my speech a near-obsequious tone. They looked as if they hadn't understood a single word I said. Great, they don't have their chips either. Don't they have other species here? And now for the fun part...

What I meant to say was, "Hello, good day to you." What came out was more like, "Haaroo, guud dhaay tuu yooo." I winced at the horrific pronunciation, realizing just because I had shown an aptitude in class didn't necessarily mean that I could speak the language. The group looked in mild contemplation, deciphering what I had said.

"And... Good day to you as well," replied the raven-haired youth in front of me. I felt a huge flood of relief that I had gotten the language correct. "What's your name?" he asked.

Rather than butcher my own name in neo-classical English, I asked, "Mhhay I haavve a piiice off puuhaayper?"

"'May I have a piece of paper'? That's your name?" asked the red-haired female.

"Actually Starfire, I think she's really asking for a piece of paper."

"Oh! Allow me to get one for you then, Miss." She flew off in search of one.

I blushed. I should be the one getting the piece of paper for her, not the other way around. Too weird.

"Here you go, ma'am," she said, setting it down in front of me. Did I say that I blushed before? A Silicon God using an honorific towards me REALLY unsettled me.

"Thhaanksss," I managed to mutter. Let's see, can I remember neo-classical English well enough to write fluently? I pulled out my pen and wrote down 'Can you read this?' in my best handwriting, then slid it towards him.

He took it.

"Yeah, we can," answered the green-skinned boy from over Raven-Hair's shoulder. I motioned for him to give it back.

'My name is Kaelia Sophera. I am an Alexander, Kaleofebrys class. My species is TSCR/UC,' I wrote.

The group paused. "Well, I'm Robin. Nice to meet you," said Raven-Hair.

"I'm Beastboy," said the green-skinned youth.

"Raven," droned the blue-cloaked girl.

"And I am Starfire," announced the red-head.

I bowed again. 'It's very nice to meet you all,' I scribbled. Even in writing, my training bleeds through.

"Right, is there anything I can do for you?" asked Robin.

'Do you have an electronics lab handy? If you do, I could rig up a translator and I wouldn't have to keep writing to communicate clearly.' I was singing silent praises of thanks to my N-E professor for riding me on my grades.

Robin paused, seeming to debate whether or not it seemed like a good idea. "...Yeah, we do. Cyborg, could you and Raven take her there?"

"Sure thing, Rob."

"Alright," said Raven. They walked around the couch and motioned for me to follow. Guides, or escorts? I heard the other three start talking as soon as they thought I was out of earshot.

"...Are you sure we can trust her? I know I don't need to remind you about what happened last time."

"I know that Logan. But we don't have much of a choice. Besides, Raven and Cyborg are more than a match for her." The conversation took on a darker tone, and we left the room. I looked at my two watchers a little more nervously. Our walk passed in relative silence, mostly because I couldn't speak the language very well. But from the looks on their faces as we continued down the hall suggested a telepathic link. So not comforted. My tail bushed out from light fear.

"Here we are," said Cyborg after a while, stopping in front of a large door. Pressing a panel, the door slid sideways and we entered.

It was like a techie geek's dream. Rows upon rows of components, and a twenty foot work table with every tool imaginable. I simply stopped in open admiration of the room.

"You know, I think I might like this girl," said Cyborg. Raven just fixed him with an icy glare and stalked off towards one end of the worktable.

I was too wrapped up in the beauty of the lab to notice the exchange; I simply wandered through the aisles of parts.

"What do you need?" asked Cy, snapping me out of my reverie.

"What?" I asked, turning around.

He looked confused.

My ears perked up as I realized that I had spoken in my native tongue. I bowed, apologizing. I started looking for the parts I needed. Let's see, a modified headset, a blank cpu, a mp3 player, and a little luck. The program for the cpu would have to be written first. Which would only take about eight hours... I found a blank piece of paper and wrote 'I'm gonna start coding the translation program. Where's the best computer to use?' I added, staring at the wall of terminals.

He took it, read, and said, "Third one on the left. It's the only one that has a programming port." BS. In a lab like his? He just wanted me to use the one he could trace the easiest. Well, it's not like I was going to do anything illegal, or contact their archnemesis. I put the chip in the port and sat down. It was going to be a long night...

Later

"Uggh," I moaned, slumping down in my chair. Eight hours of solid coding at maximum speed, while effective in reaching my goals, was also effective in inducing a stupor and knotting the muscles in my fingers. And I had only just finished the cpu. Attempting to put the cpu in the mp3 player and re-wiring/soldering/connecting everything while my furry fingers were so cramped I could barely flex them would yield catastrophic results. I hit 'save' on the application, and made sure I had a back-up copy of the program. The program began downloading into the processor, which would(hopefully)allow me to converse in their language.

Programming wasn't as hard as the tests for training made it. Granted, I had to write the grammatics and vocabulary for my entire language myself, but I was able to use an on-disk dictionary and grammatory for English. Newfound gratitude rose in my mind for my training instructors. Even though they were anal jerks.

"You okay?" asked Cyborg, seeing me slumping in my chair. I moved my tail to the side so he wouldn't step on it.

I nodded, then said that I had finished with programming the translator.

"Wow, already? Did you pull an all-nighter?"

I fished around for a slip of paper. 'Yeah. Eight straight hours of coding. Not my favorite way to spend a Saturday night.'

"Yeah. Did you do this from memory?" he asked, indicating the screen of raw code.

'Uh-huh. My language at least. I was able to cheat and use these online dictionaries and grammatories for the English,' I wrote, my fingers less cramped, but still stiff enough to poke holes in steel.

"Wow," the metal teen repeated. "Where did you learn how to code like this? And what language is it in? I can't even recognize it."

'Really? This is Basic. Standard language taught to all, Human and TS alike, at around the age of twelve.'

Cyborg stopped breathing when he read that. "This... is Basic?! No way! There's no way this could be Basic!"

'Why not?' I scribbled on a new sheet of paper as Cy had torn the previous one in his excitement.

"Because I think this is more complicated than my own system! And you're telling me this is what they teach twelve-year olds where you come from?!"

'...Yeah, it is,' I wrote, feeling irrationally like I had done something wrong.

He either read the look on my face, or more likely saw my drooping ears and calmed down. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell like that. It's just, I pride myself on knowing all there is to know about computers, and you show up with a program I've never seen that's way beyond mine and call it Basic. Then you tell me that every twelve-year old where you comes from knows this program off the back of their hand-, I mean paw, or-, what?" he trailed off, asking for clarification.

'Hands,' I wrote, smiling. 'What I'm writing with would be called hands.'

"Ahh. Thanks for the clarification." He looked at the code for a while. "What's left to do before you finish the translator? Robin and the others are starting to wonder."

I massaged my fingers before answering. 'I just need to modify this mp3 player a bit and tweak the headset.' The computer alerted me that it was done downloading the program.

"Looks like you'd better get started on the mp3 player," he said, heading towards the door of the lab. "Later Raven," said Cyborg as he walked out. She hadn't moved for the entire time I was in the lab. Which meant that I hadn't done anything she didn't disapprove of. But unless she was a master telepath she couldn't have seen the code or known what I was doing. That didn't mean I didn't discount the possibility. Just for fun, I concentrated, and thought, _Can you hear me?_

"Yeah. I heard you. I'd advise you not test me again." The ice in her voice was so cold it dropped my core temperature by ten degrees. Scary...

"I heard that too. And, just so we're clear, if you do anything to hurt my friends, I'll remove your heart through your eye socket." The tone in her threat implied no exaggeration, and just a bit of personal experience.

I gulped.

"That would be the correct response."

Turning, I started work on my translator to distract myself from the possibly murderous telepath watching me.

-----------------------------

Afterthoughts

Oooh, tension between Raven and Cyborg! Don't worry, I'm staying with BB/Rae, remember, this takes place after Terra's betrayal. (Fun Fact: The day she showed up was the anniversary of Terra's arrival. This is why she made it up four flights of stairs without running into anyone.) Raven's just annoyed because her distrust of Kaelia is almost tangible.

More terms to explain. Yay!

Neo-Classical English (N-E): The name for the dialect of English spoken at the time of the story.

How the wolves came to reach sentience: About ten million years ago, an ice age set in on Aldas.Thus megafauna came to be. The wolves that were present managed to adapt, but never really increased in size much. Therefore, they needed bigger packs to bring down prey. Much bigger packs. Because the heirarchy is so important in the pack, their brain size increased to allow for the ability. Like protohumans and brachiation, the bigger brains eventually led to sentience, which led to civilization, then to uplifting the other races, and finally the current culture seen today. (Please don't flame me for getting facts wrong or treating them like silly putty. I just wanted something that sounds somewhat plausible.)

The enytomlogy of Kaelia's name: The original Kaelia was the greatest warrior to have ever lived. She created her own school of martial arts, taught only to the most disciplined students. Unsurprisingly, this has given Kaelia our protagonist a bit of a complex. Giving your kid this name is kinda like naming a Japanese kid Musashi or a German kid Siegfried. Her last name refers to the family business, that is, "clothes washer."


	3. Translation

Translation  


Why is it that nothing can be easy? The mp3 player was completely incompatible with the cpu I needed to put into it; I ended up ripping out the circuit board and fabbing my own. Which added four hours onto the project. Luckily, my profs had prepared my for most anything.

"Hey, you done in there?" came a voice from the doorway. I looked up from the mess I had strewn around me and saw Robin in the doorway. He came over to the table.

'Just about. I need to set the board and seal the case, then mod the headset. But the hard parts are done now,' I wrote, letting my fingers relax as he read.

"That's good. Anything I can help with?" he asked, smiling.

You mean, can I see exactly what you've done? I translated in my head. For a guy who seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve, he could lie with the best of them. 'Sure. If you could modify the headset for me, that'd be great.'

The leader of the group took the headset and began to tinker. By the time I had set the board, re-wired it, and sealed the unit, he had been done for fifteen minutes. 'Wow,' I wrote. Robin handed me the headset to try on. It fit like a freaking glove. 'How did you manage to get it to fit the first time?!' I scrawled.

"I guessed."

'You guessed.'

He nodded.

I shook my head. 'Whatever,' I wrote. Now, to see if this works. I plugged in the headphones and turned on the translator. "Can you understand me?" I asked.

The black-haired youth recoiled.

"Crap, I screwed up. I can fix this, I swear," I said, reaching for the unit.

"No, it's fine. I understood you perfectly. It's just a little weird for a what looks like a fox in human clothing to be speaking Queen's English."

I decided to let the fox remark slide for now. "So, it works?"

"Like a charm."

"Yes!" I jumped up and down, pouncing on Robin and hugging him for dear life. Okay, granted, it was just a translator, but I had made it almost from scratch and it _worked_. I felt like I could do anything.

"What are you doing?" asked Starfire in a rather dangerous tone of voice. She fixed a hard look at me. "Perhaps you like to explain, Kaelia?"

I stopped hugging him. "Umm, you see, I was working really hard on this translator, and Robin said that it worked, and I was so happy, that I, umm, hugged him..." I trailed off, feeling just a tad bit nervous. Not only had I broken at least six laws of contact with the gods, I had also advanced on her pre-mate. I was just racking up the idiot points, wasn't I?

"She didn't mean anything by it, Star. She was just happy," said Robin in my defense.

"...I am sure," said the red-head, her tone implying threats of terrible violence.

"Well, Kaelia, now that you have a working translator, maybe we could finish what we started earlier?"

"Yeah, you're probably wondering what I'm doing here."

"Just a bit."

"Okay, what would you like to know?" I asked, leaning back in my chair, lacing my fingers behind my head.

"Actually, would you prefer the couch to answer the questions?"

* * *

I grinned. "Thank you very much, sir, I'd very much appreciate that," I said, getting out of my chair and bowing.

"So, what would you like to know about me?" I asked, now comfortably seated on the couch. The Titans were spread throughout the room so as to make me a bit more at ease.

"What are you?" asked Raven.

"I'm an Alexander, Kaleofebrys class."

"Which is?" she continued. I was fairly surprised, most humans knew the name for our organization

"The Alexanders were originally protectors, usually guarding a city or town from outside attack. Nowadays, we function more as a liaison between humans and TS."

"What about the Kaleo-whatever thingy?" asked Beastboy.

I smiled, not without a bit of pride. "It's the designation for a third-year student who has surpassed the Lasalk." I frowned, apparently I had forgotten a few words. Or perhaps there was no English equivalent.

"The what?"

I thought about how to translate it. "The closest I can get in English, would be, 'one who has acesended the Tetanus Point.'"

Beastboy stopped breathing. "Do you mean the 'Tetanus Point' as in the point where the muscles lose their summation?"

"Yeah."

"You mean, that your twitch and summation movements are equal?"

"Yes."

"Oh dear God."

"What, what's the big deal?" asked Cyborg, confused with the exchange.

"She just told me that she can move at an infinite speed!" The rest of the group sat quietly, digesting that piece of information.

"Ummm, I can't actually move that fast. So far, my top speed ever has been Mach Fifteen." I rolled my eyes. Figures I'd remember that and not 'Kaleofebrys.'

"This is all very nice, but I was asking as to what species you are, not what your job is," interjected Raven.

"Ah, that's not surprising. I'm a TSCR/UC. Most get me confused with one or the other, but not a hybrid."

Blank looks were all that greeted my statement.

"Oh, for the love of Dalz. You've never heard of a hybrid? Come on, every single canid is the same species. Fertile crosses aren't uncommon."

Robin looked confused. "No, it's not about the hybrids. What we're not understanding exactly what a 'TSCR/UC' is."

"Theriosapiens Canis rufus and Urcyon cineroargentus. I thought that all Silicon Gods knew the nomenclature for TS," I said, confused.

"'Silicon Gods?' Is that what you just called us?" asked Cyborg.

"Yeah," I said, feeling just a touch out of sync.

"We're not gods, Kaelia. We protect this city," he said, gesturing at the skyline in front of us. "I guess you could call us Alexanders." Oh Dalz. They weren't just humans, they were Aeosai. My head bounced off the floor before I even knew that I was submissing.

"What are you doing!?" asked Robin, seeing my skull do a bouncyball impression.

"I... have to... show... respect..." I muttered thickly. I must have hit my head harder than I thought, because my vision was fading quickly.

"Raven! Starfire! Get her to the medwing now!" The Boy Wonder's voice filtered through the deepening blackness.

"Kaelia? Hold on for just a little bit, okay?"

What? Oh. Okay.

* * *

Afterthoughts

Wow, more things to explain. Fun...

Laws of Contact: On Aldas, to touch a human without invitation is tantamount to blasphemy, as physical contact is an indication of equality between the parties. Thus it is generally labeled as "a really bad idea."

Pre-mate: The equivalent of a boyfriend/girlfriend.

Summation: The release movement of muscles. In all natural beings, the summation movement will always be slower than the twitch movements.

Twitch: The contraction movement of the muscles.

Dalz: The god of the grey fox species. The religion goes something like, each species/subspecies has their own god, which is an aspect of the Creator, who created all. This religion is a relatively new development; it was created to settle the warring factions. Worked, too.

Nomenclature: The official system for naming organisms, ex. Homo sapiens for modern humans.

Aeosai: The plural form of Aeos.

Aeos: Literally, "God among gods." In the current sense, it's a designation reserved for a single, small class of humans. The Black Ribbon Guard, the highest level of protection in the human government. To give you an example of the level they're on, a single member of the Guard was once dispatched to defend a visting dignitary. Over the visit, no less than twelve assassination attempts occured, including a hellfire barrage from a squadron of fighters. The dignitary escaped unscathed, and the Guard member shot down the squad with nothing more than his pistol(they pack serious heat).

Submissing: In a wolf pack, a low ranking wolf will lie down and expose his or her throat to the alpha wolf to show that they're below them. In the same way, and because wolves set a lot of social customs, an Aldian will submiss to an Aeos to show they're respect. It's sort of like bowing.


	4. Aeosai

Chapter Four

My eyes snapped open, then squeezed shut again from the blinding light pointed at my face. "Ahh!" I said, pressing my hands over my eyes.

"Oh, you are awake," said a voice off to my left. My ear swiveled and caught the speaker's identity. Aeos-Starfire. She started walking towards me. Turning the lamp off, she asked, "Can you see now?"

I removed my hands from my eyes and blinked, looking around the room. I seemed to be in a sickbay of some kind. My translator and card decks were lying on the table next to me. "Yes, Aeos-Starfire. Thank you very much," I said quietly, after putting on my translator and looking at the bed. "Is this the medwing?" I asked in the same tone of voice, pulling up my knees and wrapping my arms around them.

"Yes... Is something wrong Kaelia?" she inquired, concern in her voice. 'Is something wrong?' Not only have I been casual with humans, I've advanced on your pre-mate, and another wants to kill me from reasons I don't even know yet. To top it all off, I find out that you are all Aeosai. No, nothing's wrong at all.

"Starfire? Is she awake yet?" Robin's voice floated from behind the door.

"Yes, Robin, she is... But I think there may be something wrong with her."

The door slid open. "Kaelia? Are you okay?" he asked, walking over to my bed. I watched him out of the corner of my eye.

I nodded in response, not daring to speak, or even look at him.

"Does your head hurt?"

I nodded slightly.

"Did something happen to you voice?"

I shook my head.

"Her voice seems to be fine, Robin. She was speaking to me just now," interjected Aeos-Starfire.

Aeos-Robin took my chin in his hand, looked directly into my eyes, and said, "Why won't you speak to me?"

I managed to hold his gaze while I answered. "Because my speaking to a leader of Aeosai like you would be the greatest show of disrespect that exists," I said softly. "I'm so far below you that I'm not even worthy to look at the ground that you walked on. For some humans, this is like spitting on the True Cross."

"...Oh," he replied, letting go of my face. "Look Kaelia, we're not better than you are. We're just different. In your culture, I would have the power to give you orders, right?"

I nodded, slightly confused at his way of thinking. I shifted uncomfortably on my bed.

"Then I order you to treat us as equals."

My heart skipped a beat. "Aeos-Robin, please repeat that," I said, disbelieving.

"I said, I order you to treat the rest of the team and me as equals."

I tried to accept that, and failed. I tried again, and failed. On the third try, I got a little closer.

"Kaelia? You okay?" asked Beastboy. When had he come in?

"Yeah, I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the order that Aeos-Robin gave me."

"There. See? You're following orders already."

"I am?" I asked, horrified that I could simply treat him like an equal so quickly.

He smiled. "And just now, again. I think you just need to relax."

I had made him smile. That alone was reward for the breach. When the leader is happy, his subjects usually are too.

Beastboy sat down on the bed next to me. "Wanna head to the mall with the rest of us today? It'd be a lot of fun with you around."

"Really?!" I asked, excited. The mall sounded like a perfect way to relax.

He nodded.

"Thank you!" I said, hugging him. It was a few seconds later that I realized that I was STARK NAKED. I dove back beneath the covers, muttering 'Oh Dalz, Oh Dalz, Oh Dalz...' "Ummm, where are my clothes and why am I naked?" I asked in a small voice.

"Well, you were passed out, and Robin never misses a chance to study something," said Beastboy with a wicked grin.

"Stop it, Logan!" He turned to face me. "Your clothes were soaked. We tried to dry them, but they fell apart in the dryer. How, I don't know, but that's what happened, or what Beastboy told me anyway. I sent Raven to get you some new clothes. She should be back any second now."

Right on cue, she walked through the doorway, holding a bag of clothing. "Here," she said icily, tossing it towards me. I managed to catch it one-handed and looked through it. A pair of modified jeans, undergarmets, a blue t-shirt, and a light grey sweater. I was grateful, but wasn't this a little...light?

She saw the look on my face. "I added in the factor of your fur. I figured that it would add the equivalent of an extra layer of clothing." I nodded. Well, even if my species didn't come from a cold climate, at least I did. That would help a bit. But I still needed shoes...

"Is there a way that I could get shoes? It really, really, sucks walking barepaw out there."

"Well, I don't really think so... I don't know any place where we could get shoes for digitigrade feet."

"I could make my own. It's not really that hard. Do you have any waterproof insulating fabric?"

"You mean like Gore-Tex?" asked Cyborg.

"Ahh! When did you come in, and how did I not hear you?!"

He shrugged. "I have some loose Gore-Tex if you need some."

"Sure, I'll take it. Thanks."

The metal teen walked out of the room and returned shortly, handing me a yard of the fabric, a sewing kit, and some thread.

I took it, frowning. "Where did this come from? Do you just keep fabric and sewing kits in strategically placed locations around the tower? Or did you somehow predict that I would ask for this?"

"Uhhh... The last one, I guess..." he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Right...," I said, wrapping the blanket around me and starting work on my shoes. I put my foot on the fabric, estimated the amount needed for one shoe, and cut a circular piece of fabric. Then I cut out an identical piece using the first as a template. Threading the strings through the edges of the shoe gave me something like a bag with drawstrings. I slipped them on and tied the shoes shut. "This should be good for now."

The Titans were staring at me. "Is that what all shoes are like where you come from?" asked Beastboy.

""For everyone with feet like mine," I answered. "Now, boys, if you wouldn't mind leaving, I'd like to get dressed now."

"Oh! Sorry, Kaelia, we'll leave now." They left the room quickly. I dressed myself, put on my decks, then asked if there was a brush handy.

"Here you are," said Starfire, offering one.

"Thank you," I said, taking it. I sat down and started to brush my tail. "Guys! You can come back in now!" I called.

"Almost ready?" asked Cyborg, walking in with the others.

"Yeah, I wanted to make myself look some presentable," I answered, braiding my hair.

"I think you look great," said Beastboy. Raven fixed him with a glare that could freeze lava and several vials shattered around the room. I winced. Beastboy leaned close to me and whispered, "Don't worry about Raven. She doesn't like strangers very much." He gave a comforting smile, then mussed my hair. Raven walked over, clamped a hand on his shoulder, and dragged him from the room, saying "Garfield, I think we need to have a little talk. NOW."

"...Is he going to be alright?" I asked, watched Raven drag him from the room.

"He'll be fine," responded Cyborg. "She's probably just going to give him a tongue lashing and leave it at that.

"...Well, okay," I said, returning to my tail.

* * *

P.O.V. Shift 

"What the hell are you doing, Logan?!" demanded Raven, releasing Beastboy's shoulder. "You know we can't trust her! Remember Terra?!"

"Who said I trusted her?," replied Beastboy.

"Then what are you doing?"

"I don't trust her, possibly even less than you. I'm assuming that you put tracers and bugs in her clothing."

Raven nodded, surprised that Beastboy was able to lie like this.

"I just put the same thing on her person." The empath's jaw dropped.

"When... when did you think of this?"

"Just after she slammed her head on the ground. I figured you'd go for her clothes. This way there's no way she can escape detection."

"I...never thought that you could do something like this, Beastboy. Usually you're so open with your emotions..."

He gave a half-smile. "I know how to survive, Raven and I'll do whatever it takes to do so. In the game of life there are no rules."

"But in love?" she asked, slightly worried by this revelation.

The shapeshifter pulled her into a tight embrace. "I love you Raven, and nothing will ever change that. I swear by all that is holy that no harm to you."

She smiled, returning the hug. "You have no idea how good that is to hear..." Raven whispered.

* * *

P.O.V. Shift 

"Aww," I said, stepping out of the room and seeing the couple hugging each other. They stopped embracing when they heard me.

Beastboy smiled and said, "You ready?"

"Yeah, I really wanna check out the mall you have here."

"Alright then, let's head out," said Aeos-Robin, walking out of the room behind me.

The car ride there was fun, if a bit cramped. I've never ridden in a car like this before, but I'm fairly certain that said vehicle is supposed to keep all four wheels on the ground at all times. And judging from the other's reactions, I'd say that that was a correct assumption.

"Cyborg! That car was on one wheel back there!"

"That light is RED, Cy!"

"Ahh! I'm gonna die!"

"This is fun!" That last one was me. Death is something they prepare you for very throughly in the Academy.

We pulled into the parking spot inexpliacably and miraculously whole.

"Cyborg...you...are...NEVER driving...again," Aeos-Robin choked out, among other things.

"What, just because I had a bit of difficulties getting here?"

"A BIT of difficulties?! Cyborg, you hit at least five fire hydrants on the way here! Three cars tipped over! It's a wonder no one DIED!" shouted the leader of the Titans.

"Hey, I wasn't used to the weight difference," he replied, walking towards the entrance. "You coming?"

We had simply stopped at his excuse. I shook my head and followed after.

* * *

Afterthoughts 

I know that I broke character with BB and Rae, but I really don't know how to fix it... Sorry...

Even more things to explain.

- I'm totally not sure how to spell the word "strategically.".

"Aeos-" prefix: A title of respect. Kinda like saying "-san" or "-sama"

Card decks: The main focuses for Kaelia's force fields. I will elaborate on this in later chapters


End file.
